We got pulled over in the UK this summer, while Bob was driving, for speeding. The cop basically asked us how we'd feel if he came over to our country and speeded and asked what a cop in the US would have done if Bob had been caught going whatever above the speed limit was that he was doing. Bob said "a warning" and I said "a Very Stern warning." Fortunately, I didn't get us in deeper trouble for smart assery and we were let go with a warning.

Our friend we were traveling with was approached by a plains clothes cop while she was stopped getting money from an ATM and he told her she fit the description of a person reported to have been possibly drunk driving. She had to hang out until a uniformed cop arrived with a breathalyzer. She was 100% sober, thank goodness, and they determined she was just "driving while American" and let her go with a warning. In truth, she's a somewhat terrible driver here too!

Huh. I think I've told this story before, but I was stopped on suspicion of drunk driving, and I failed the sobriety test. I was about to be arrested when I told the cop I hadn't been drinking at all. She smelled my breath and then believed me. She told me, "That is absolutely the worst performance of a sobriety test by a sober person I've ever seen."

I just have a shitty sense of balance.

The only odd encounter I had didn't involve having to get out of the car or anything like that, but I was kept waiting 45 minutes on the side of the road at 2:30 in the morning after running a stop sign. I purposely ran that sign because I was following DH and he ran it. His license was suspended so I sacrificed myself. (last time!!)

The officer came back a couple times and said he was waiting on his computer or some such. Then after the crazy long wait he comes back and gives me a warning and apology. That same day a Laura Holt had escaped from prison and he was waiting on a photograph or physical description. Seriously, if I had escaped from prison I wouldn't have used my real license.

And also because what else was I going to do?

This is my question.

Do you all do that?

I do, but I am also paranoid.

I got stopped and given a sobriety test once when I was really really tired, but it was just the eyeball tracking thing and I passed that. He stopped me because I was going super slow, in fact. I was too tired to be afraid of any consequences at that point, even, just trying to get home and get to bed. Must be twenty years ago, though, and I remember it pretty vividly.

If she was driving erratically while stopped at an ATM then I can see why they were suspicious.

If she was driving erratically while stopped at an ATM then I can see why they were suspicious.

Ha! No, I was just too lazy to type out the whole story.

Slow day in the office--the great drama is over in QA, where a sticky hand has been thrown onto the acoustic tile ceiling, and they're climbing on desks to try to retrieve it before it falls unnoticed onto someone's head. The techs are observing and giving advice. The retriever has so far managed to rip the tail off the thing, leaving the sticky body lying in wait on the ceiling. The person who sits underneath it is staring up at it anxiously.

WTH is a sticky hand, and why is it scary to have one above your head?

A milestone has been reached. I just edited the last paper I'll ever have to edit. From now on, all the editing of my journals will be done by other people, and I'll be proofing their work and otherwise managing workflow as my primary job function. I was getting pretty burned out on editing, so I'm glad.

WTH is a sticky hand, and why is it scary to have one above your head?

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I think she just has a horror of things falling on her. But after much climbing on desks and flailing with rulers, the sticky body was removed from the ceiling, though with a side trip into the florescent light housing which was thankfully shortlived.

A milestone has been reached. I just edited the last paper I'll ever have to edit.

Woo!!!